Besides,
I am so exhausted that I must be a burden to you. You cannot go on
supporting me--"
"We must get out of these woods," he broke in doggedly, "if I have to
carry you in my arms."
"I shall try to keep going," she said quickly. "Forgive me if I seemed
to falter a little. I--I--am ready to go on when you say the word."
"You poor girl! Hang it all, perhaps you are right and not I. Sit
still and I will reconnoitre a bit. If I can find a place where we can
hide among these rocks, we'll stay here till the sky begins to
lighten. Sit--"
"No! I shall not let you leave me for a second. Where you go, I go."
She struggled to her feet, suppressing a groan, and thrust a
determined arm through his.
"That's worth remembering," said he, and whether it was a muscular
necessity or an emotional exaction that caused his arm to tighten on
hers, none save he would ever know.
After a few minutes prowling among the rocks they came to the face of
what subsequently proved to be a sheer wall of stone. He flashed the
light, and, with an exclamation, started back. Not six feet ahead of
them the earth seemed to end; a yawning black gulf lay beyond.
Apparently they were on the very edge of a cliff.
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